Monitor.Enter Method

Definition

Acquires an exclusive lock on a specified object.

Overloads

Enter(Object)

Acquires an exclusive lock on the specified object.

Enter(Object, Boolean)

Acquires an exclusive lock on the specified object, and atomically sets a value that indicates whether the lock was taken.

Enter(Object)

Source:
Monitor.cs
Source:
Monitor.cs
Source:
Monitor.cs

Acquires an exclusive lock on the specified object.

public static void Enter (object obj);

Parameters

obj
Object

The object on which to acquire the monitor lock.

Exceptions

The obj parameter is null.

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to use the Enter method.

using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

class SafeQueue<T>
{
   // A queue that is protected by Monitor.
   private Queue<T> m_inputQueue = new Queue<T>();

   // Lock the queue and add an element.
   public void Enqueue(T qValue)
   {
      // Request the lock, and block until it is obtained.
      Monitor.Enter(m_inputQueue);
      try
      {
         // When the lock is obtained, add an element.
         m_inputQueue.Enqueue(qValue);
      }
      finally
      {
         // Ensure that the lock is released.
         Monitor.Exit(m_inputQueue);
      }
   }

   // Try to add an element to the queue: Add the element to the queue
   // only if the lock is immediately available.
   public bool TryEnqueue(T qValue)
   {
      // Request the lock.
      if (Monitor.TryEnter(m_inputQueue))
      {
         try
         {
            m_inputQueue.Enqueue(qValue);
         }
         finally
         {
            // Ensure that the lock is released.
            Monitor.Exit(m_inputQueue);
         }
         return true;
      }
      else
      {
         return false;
      }
   }

   // Try to add an element to the queue: Add the element to the queue
   // only if the lock becomes available during the specified time
   // interval.
   public bool TryEnqueue(T qValue, int waitTime)
   {
      // Request the lock.
      if (Monitor.TryEnter(m_inputQueue, waitTime))
      {
         try
         {
            m_inputQueue.Enqueue(qValue);
         }
         finally
         {
            // Ensure that the lock is released.
            Monitor.Exit(m_inputQueue);
         }
         return true;
      }
      else
      {
         return false;
      }
   }

   // Lock the queue and dequeue an element.
   public T Dequeue()
   {
      T retval;

      // Request the lock, and block until it is obtained.
      Monitor.Enter(m_inputQueue);
      try
      {
         // When the lock is obtained, dequeue an element.
         retval = m_inputQueue.Dequeue();
      }
      finally
      {
         // Ensure that the lock is released.
         Monitor.Exit(m_inputQueue);
      }

      return retval;
   }

   // Delete all elements that equal the given object.
   public int Remove(T qValue)
   {
      int removedCt = 0;

      // Wait until the lock is available and lock the queue.
      Monitor.Enter(m_inputQueue);
      try
      {
         int counter = m_inputQueue.Count;
         while (counter > 0)
            // Check each element.
         {
            T elem = m_inputQueue.Dequeue();
            if (!elem.Equals(qValue))
            {
               m_inputQueue.Enqueue(elem);
            }
            else
            {
               // Keep a count of items removed.
               removedCt += 1;
            }
            counter = counter - 1;
         }
      }
      finally
      {
         // Ensure that the lock is released.
         Monitor.Exit(m_inputQueue);
      }

      return removedCt;
   }

   // Print all queue elements.
   public string PrintAllElements()
   {
      StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();

      // Lock the queue.
      Monitor.Enter(m_inputQueue);
      try
      {
         foreach( T elem in m_inputQueue )
         {
            // Print the next element.
            output.AppendLine(elem.ToString());
         }
      }
      finally
      {
         // Ensure that the lock is released.
         Monitor.Exit(m_inputQueue);
      }

      return output.ToString();
   }
}

public class Example
{
   private static SafeQueue<int> q = new SafeQueue<int>();
   private static int threadsRunning = 0;
   private static int[][] results = new int[3][];

   static void Main()
   {
      Console.WriteLine("Working...");

      for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
      {
         Thread t = new Thread(ThreadProc);
         t.Start(i);
         Interlocked.Increment(ref threadsRunning);
      }
   }

   private static void ThreadProc(object state)
   {
      DateTime finish = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(10);
      Random rand = new Random();
      int[] result = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 };
      int threadNum = (int) state;

      while (DateTime.Now < finish)

      {
         int what = rand.Next(250);
         int how = rand.Next(100);

         if (how < 16)
         {
            q.Enqueue(what);
            result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.EnqueueCt] += 1;
         }
         else if (how < 32)
         {
            if (q.TryEnqueue(what))
            {
               result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.TryEnqueueSucceedCt] += 1;
            }
            else
            {
               result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.TryEnqueueFailCt] += 1;
            }
         }
         else if (how < 48)
         {
            // Even a very small wait significantly increases the success
            // rate of the conditional enqueue operation.
            if (q.TryEnqueue(what, 10))
            {
               result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.TryEnqueueWaitSucceedCt] += 1;
            }
            else
            {
               result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.TryEnqueueWaitFailCt] += 1;
            }
         }
         else if (how < 96)
         {
            result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.DequeueCt] += 1;
            try
            {
               q.Dequeue();
            }
            catch
            {
               result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.DequeueExCt] += 1;
            }
         }
         else
         {
            result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.RemoveCt] += 1;
            result[(int)ThreadResultIndex.RemovedCt] += q.Remove(what);
         }
      }

      results[threadNum] = result;

      if (0 == Interlocked.Decrement(ref threadsRunning))
      {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(
            "                               Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3    Total\n");

         for(int row = 0; row < 9; row++)
         {
            int total = 0;
            sb.Append(titles[row]);

            for(int col = 0; col < 3; col++)
            {
               sb.Append(String.Format("{0,9}", results[col][row]));
               total += results[col][row];
            }

            sb.AppendLine(String.Format("{0,9}", total));
         }

         Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
      }
   }

   private static string[] titles = {
      "Enqueue                       ",
      "TryEnqueue succeeded          ",
      "TryEnqueue failed             ",
      "TryEnqueue(T, wait) succeeded ",
      "TryEnqueue(T, wait) failed    ",
      "Dequeue attempts              ",
      "Dequeue exceptions            ",
      "Remove operations             ",
      "Queue elements removed        "};

   private enum ThreadResultIndex
   {
      EnqueueCt,
      TryEnqueueSucceedCt,
      TryEnqueueFailCt,
      TryEnqueueWaitSucceedCt,
      TryEnqueueWaitFailCt,
      DequeueCt,
      DequeueExCt,
      RemoveCt,
      RemovedCt
   };
}

/* This example produces output similar to the following:

Working...
                               Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3    Total
Enqueue                          277382   515209   308464  1101055
TryEnqueue succeeded             276873   514621   308099  1099593
TryEnqueue failed                   109      181      134      424
TryEnqueue(T, wait) succeeded    276913   514434   307607  1098954
TryEnqueue(T, wait) failed            2        0        0        2
Dequeue attempts                 830980  1544081   924164  3299225
Dequeue exceptions                12102    21589    13539    47230
Remove operations                 69550   129479    77351   276380
Queue elements removed            11957    22572    13043    47572
 */

Remarks

Use Enter to acquire the Monitor on the object passed as the parameter. If another thread has executed an Enter on the object but has not yet executed the corresponding Exit, the current thread will block until the other thread releases the object. It is legal for the same thread to invoke Enter more than once without it blocking; however, an equal number of Exit calls must be invoked before other threads waiting on the object will unblock.

Use Monitor to lock objects (that is, reference types), not value types. When you pass a value type variable to Enter, it is boxed as an object. If you pass the same variable to Enter again, it is boxed as a separate object, and the thread does not block. In this case, the code that Monitor is supposedly protecting is not protected. Furthermore, when you pass the variable to Exit, still another separate object is created. Because the object passed to Exit is different from the object passed to Enter, Monitor throws SynchronizationLockException. For more information, see the conceptual topic Monitors.

Interrupt can interrupt threads that are waiting to enter a Monitor on an object. A ThreadInterruptedException will be thrown.

Use a C# tryfinally block (TryFinally in Visual Basic) to ensure that you release the monitor, or use the C# lock statement (SyncLock statement in Visual Basic), which wraps the Enter and Exit methods in a tryfinally block.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 och andra versioner
Produkt Versioner
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

Enter(Object, Boolean)

Source:
Monitor.CoreCLR.cs
Source:
Monitor.CoreCLR.cs
Source:
Monitor.CoreCLR.cs

Acquires an exclusive lock on the specified object, and atomically sets a value that indicates whether the lock was taken.

public static void Enter (object obj, ref bool lockTaken);

Parameters

obj
Object

The object on which to wait.

lockTaken
Boolean

The result of the attempt to acquire the lock, passed by reference. The input must be false. The output is true if the lock is acquired; otherwise, the output is false. The output is set even if an exception occurs during the attempt to acquire the lock.

Note If no exception occurs, the output of this method is always true.

Exceptions

The input to lockTaken is true.

The obj parameter is null.

Examples

The following code shows the basic pattern for using the Enter(Object, Boolean) method overload. This overload always sets the value of the variable that is passed to the ref parameter (ByRef in Visual Basic) lockTaken, even if the method throws an exception, so the value of the variable is a reliable way to test whether the lock has to be released.

bool acquiredLock = false;

try
{
    Monitor.Enter(lockObject, ref acquiredLock);

    // Code that accesses resources that are protected by the lock.
}
finally
{
    if (acquiredLock)
    {
        Monitor.Exit(lockObject);
    }
}

Remarks

Use Enter to acquire the Monitor on the object passed as the obj parameter. If another thread has executed an Enter on the object but has not yet executed the corresponding Exit, the current thread will block until the other thread releases the object. It is legal for the same thread to invoke Enter more than once without it blocking; however, an equal number of Exit calls must be invoked before other threads waiting on the object will unblock.

If the lock was not taken because an exception was thrown, the variable specified for the lockTaken parameter is false after this method ends. This allows the program to determine, in all cases, whether it is necessary to release the lock. If this method returns without throwing an exception, the variable specified for the lockTaken parameter is always true, and there is no need to test it.

Use Monitor to lock objects (that is, reference types), not value types. When you pass a value type variable to Enter, it is boxed as an object. If you pass the same variable to Enter again, it is boxed as a separate object, and the thread does not block. In this case, the code that Monitor is supposedly protecting is not protected. Furthermore, when you pass the variable to Exit, another separate object is created. Because the object passed to Exit is different from the object passed to Enter, Monitor throws SynchronizationLockException. For more information, see the conceptual topic Monitors.

Interrupt can interrupt threads that are waiting to enter a Monitor on an object. A ThreadInterruptedException will be thrown.

Applies to

.NET 9 och andra versioner
Produkt Versioner
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0